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Looking for work or boosting your career in Ashfield

Choosing a job or changing a career can be a major life transition – one that requires careful thought, planning, and work. Find out about the support available when looking for work.

New career options

If you are exploring new career options, you will need to ask yourself a couple of questions:

  1. What do I want to do?
  2. How do I get there from here?

The first question deals with the goal of your career search, and the second one with the process of finding a job or career – how to actually go about reaching your goal. The questions are interrelated. You could have a new career clearly in mind but don’t know how to achieve your goal, or you could talk to all the right people and do all the appropriate career exploration tasks without any clear sense of direction.

The purpose of this page is to suggest how you can find support with both these needs.

Who am I? 

The more you understand about yourself, the better your decisions will be and the more effectively you will be able to implement those decisions.

There are several ways to gain this information, you can speak with a career adviser and / or you can take some assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI was developed by Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs, as a measure of Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types. About 1.5 million people take the test online each year and more than 88% of Fortune 500 companies - as well as hundreds of universities - use it in hiring and training. It’s by far the most popular assessment to support careers guidance.

You can take this test for free on websites such as:

This will give you an insight into your ‘best fit’ personality type and you will understand more about your natural strengths, challenges, and what career themes are more likely to suit you. To have a more accurate assessment you can pay for professional feedback, to help you understand your results in more detail from a qualified MBTI Practitioner.

What do I want to do?

The answer to this is often not clear for most people. It may be helpful to break down an enormous issue like this into smaller, more manageable questions such as:

  • What do I want to do on a day to day basis?
  • Where do I want to be in one year? 5 years? 10 years?
  • What would I like to have accomplished in one year? 5 years? 10 years?
  • What kind of people do I want to work with?
  • What kind of working environment do I find most comfortable?
  • What kind of work environment allows me to be most productive?
  • What motivates me to do my best?

When you know yourself better you can categorise occupations by their ‘fit’ with your personality type, interests, and skills, then you will be able to find a job that more closely matches your natural preferences.

How do I get there from here?

The process of career change involves many activities.

People naturally tend to engage in those tasks that are consistent with their personality type and avoid those that require them to work against the grain of their preferred styles. However, all activities will need to be accomplished in order to be successful. So if you are struggling to do certain stages, then this is where you need more support.

The good news is that there are plenty of organisations available who can assist you:

Free Employment Support Programmes

Futures Advice, Skills and Employment Ltd

Futures offer honest, straightforward, and practical advice and support. It can help you to explore your options, find opportunities, and prepare for the future.

Future can also assist you with self-marketing:

  • Advice to get your cover letter noticed
  • Tips to move your CV to the top of the pile
  • Interview techniques that give you confidence and prove your capability
  • Support with your job search or securing a training placement.

i-Work Programme

If you live in Nottinghamshire and have a learning disability, autism or Asperger's the Nottinghamshire i-work team can offer you support to get a job.

The i-work team can:

  • look at your skills, interests and qualifications
  • find jobs that you might like to do
  • explain what will happen with benefits if you get paid work
  • give you the opportunity to try out jobs to see if you like them
  • carry on giving you support when you find a job to help you stay there.

National Careers Service

The National Careers Service provides careers information, advice, and guidance. It can help you make decisions on learning, training, and work at all stages in your career.

Try the free online skills assessment and search the library of job profiles to gather information on which roles might best suit you. You can find out more about how the National Careers Service works by watching its 'About us' video on YouTube.

Working Well - East Midlands

Working Well - East Midlands delivers Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) across Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City and Derby City. Working Well East Midlands helps people with physical health, mental health conditions, or disabilities to find the right job, return to work after long-term sickness or keep their current job.

Jobs Boards

If you are looking for online vacancies, then have a look at these brokerage sites where thousands of local jobs are posted each day:

Find a Job / Find an Apprenticeship Service - GOV.UK

GOV.UK, the UK's public sector information website, is encouraging businesses to advertise their job vacancies and apprenticeship opportunities on their "Find a job" and "Find an apprenticeship" platforms.

On these web pages, you can find local opportunities that are available:

Nottinghamshire Opportunities

A great way to explore career opportunities is through a web platform from Nottinghamshire County Council. It allows businesses and training providers to showcase courses, apprenticeships, and jobs.

 

Page last updated: 14 April 2025